Agents, SAG Still Apart on New Pact

Prospects remained bleak that agents and actors will reach a new agreement between the two groups before the current one expires at midnight Sunday.

Representatives of the Screen Actors Guild and agents--represented by the Assn. of Talent Agents and the National Assn. of Talent Representatives--continued talking Friday.

Neither side would comment, but sources said no new agreement is expected this weekend.

At stake is a “master franchise agreement” forged in 1939 with the aim of protecting actors from being exploited.

If the agreement expires, agents theoretically would be unshackled from the 63-year-old agreement and would be free to sell their agencies to any buyer, forge pacts with producers and raise commissions.

But sources said the talent agencies have no plans to do anything drastic, and are willing to continue negotiating with SAG if it appears progress is being made.

As a good-faith gesture to clients, agents also plan to adopt a voluntary code of conduct to assure clients they will continue to operate without conflicts.

The current agreement, which agents must abide by to represent SAG actors, has several regulations including strict conflict-of-interest provisions to make sure agents don’t become producers and studios don’t end up owning the same agencies they negotiate with for the services of an actor or director.

Agents have pushed to loosen the agreement for more than two years, arguing that the rules are outdated and onerous. They say the rules prevent them from attracting much-needed capital from companies that have only a marginal interest in production such as advertising agencies.

They also argue that revisions are needed so they can compete with talent managers, whose unregulated status, they say, is an unfair competitive advantage.

In theory, agents legally are allowed to procure work for actors, while managers serve more like advisors and are not supposed to line up work.

Actors say loosening the rules could open the door to numerous conflict-of-interest scenarios.

The two sides were on the verge of reaching an agreement in early 2000, but the Screen Actors Guild nixed the deal, saying it wasn’t in the best interest of actors.

Earlier this week, the two sides sat down for the first time in more than a year.

SAG had delayed meeting, in part because of its contract negotiations last year and because its leadership remains in flux.